Virginia Tech establishes data exchange network facility in Atlanta

Virginia Tech has created a new high-performance data network exchange facility in Atlanta.

University officials say the facility, the Mid-Atlantic Research and Education Exchange Atlanta, already has had a big impact on improving reliability and capacity for access to national and international research networks.

The facility, which complements another Virginia Tech data network exchange in Northern Virginia, also is expected to aid access to major research centers in the Southeast.

Since 1998, Virginia Tech has operated statewide network and aggregation facilities that link Virginia’s major research institutions to national research networks and provide a regional hub for data transfer. In 2012, the primary aggregation facility in the Washington, D.C.-area was rebuilt using the latest technology, raising transfer speeds to 100 gigabits-per-second (Gbps).

Virginia Tech says having a second data network exchange facility in Atlanta provides geographic diversity, backup connectivity, and direct peering connections with major research institutions such as Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Centers for Disease Control.

Virginia Tech partnered with the Georgia Tech in housing the new facility and establishing the regional peering connections.

Virginia Tech’s Network Infrastructure and Services, a unit of Information Technology, designed both facilities and operates them under contract to the Mid-Atlantic Research Infrastructure Alliance.